73:
system. Each address is therefore not necessarily a geographically accurate description of where a property is located. Buildings which contain internal flats or businesses but have only one external front door will only have those internal elements recorded in PAF if the Royal Mail have direct access to them using a key or fob.
309:
The 2023-2028 public sector licence covers
England, Wales and Scotland, and was procured centrally by the Geospatial Commission so that usage is free at the point of use for delivery of vital public services by the UK government, devolved administrations, local authorities, emergency services, health
317:
Under the original licence, eligible public sector organisations were able to use PAF within their organisation and on their website for non-commercial purposes. In addition, licensed public sector organisations were able to share data with other licensed organisations and work collaboratively on
72:
The "delivery points" held on the PAF are routing instructions used by Royal Mail staff to sort and deliver mail quickly and accurately. Elements of the address, including the post town and postcode, are occasionally subject to change, reflecting the operational structure of the postal delivery
313:
The original public sector licence was implemented on 1 April 2015, having been developed by Royal Mail, the
Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Scottish government. The public sector licence was centrally paid for by these organisations so individual public sector
326:
The "alias file" is a supplementary file containing additional data which are not part of official postal addresses, including details that have changed over time, or have been amended by the public and then used. This file is used to identify these elements and
290:
An example of typical internal use is an employee of a licensed call centre who uses a PAF-based solution to look up and verify customer addresses. The PAF data is only being used within the licensed end-user and is not passed on to any other legal entity.
380:
Between 2004 and 2006 a consultation was taken about the future management of the PAF. The proposal to release it for use at low or no cost was rejected, and the business model where it was used to raise money from profitable corporations was retained.
371:
Royal Mail acknowledges that the PAF contains errors, and publishes forms for submitting error reports. A very small number of addresses are not listed correctly, and others (especially new developments) may not be listed at all for a period of time.
487:
660:
294:
On the other hand, an example of external use would be a company which provides a PAF-based address look-up on their customer facing website for their own customers to use when they order goods or services.
634:
573:
494:
574:"Know how: a user's manual for Mailsort®, Walksort®, Presstream®, Cleanmail®, Presstream® Walksort®, Royal Mail International Bulk Mail™ and Automated Standard Tariff Large Letter®"
667:
740:
306:
Public sector organisations can now use PAF under the public sector licence use terms. The current public sector licence was renewed in April 2023 and runs until 31 March 2028.
287:
The PAF licence sets out what PAF can be used for. Licensing options include internal and external use and also more advanced options such as bureau services and broker groups.
318:
data-led projects. The original licence was available to central government, local government, emergency services, health authorities and search and rescue organisations.
363:
Royal Mail, in their guide to the data products imply that the county alias information was provided when Royal Mail removed the former postal county from the main file.
391:
released co-ordinate data for all Great
Britain postcodes (but not their address elements) for re-use free of charge under an attribution-only licence, as part of
56:
to maintain the data and make it available on reasonable terms. A charge is made for lookup services or wholesale supply of PAF data. Charges are regulated by
988:
694:
733:
911:
638:
584:
773:
978:
726:
341:
The thoroughfare record – contains replacement street and road names for a given locality, thoroughfare or dependent thoroughfare combination.
608:
768:
519:
60:. It includes small user residential, small user organisation and large user organisation details. There have been requests as part of the
310:
services, and search and rescue organisations. The contract now also incorporates Royal Mail Not Yet Built and
Multiple Residence data.
983:
788:
611:, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Geospatial Commission, published 20 April 2023, accessed 16 August 2023.
460:
778:
749:
620:
429:
356:
344:
The delivery point alias record – holds additional information at given addresses, such as trading names and building names.
404:
520:"Programmers Guide – Technical specifications for users of PAF® and associated raw data products, Edition 7, Version 6"
81:
Royal Mail's
Programmers Guide lists the following address elements of PAF and their respective maximum field lengths:
691:
763:
242:
61:
37:
348:
949:
937:
551:
334:
The alias file holds four types of record: locality, thoroughfare, delivery point alias, and county alias:
820:
392:
53:
932:
957:
384:
The accounts for the PAF for 2005/6 disclosed an income of ÂŁ18million, 8.6% of which was profit.
793:
409:
45:
338:
The locality record – old short forms, local names, and 'postally-not-required' (PNR) details.
40:. The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses and 1.8 million
885:
352:
8:
865:
718:
953:
49:
22:
927:
692:
DCLG: Policy options for geographic information from
Ordnance Survey: Consultation
437:
895:
698:
388:
328:
215:
972:
840:
465:
875:
860:
314:
organisations no longer needed to return PAF licence fees to Royal Mail.
870:
609:
Public sector access to Royal Mail
Postcode Address File agreed to 2028
526:
64:
campaign for the PAF to be released by the government free of charge.
783:
227:
52:. As owner of the PAF, Royal Mail is required by section 116 of the
835:
825:
803:
41:
880:
850:
890:
855:
273:
713:
36:) is a database that contains all known "delivery points" and
845:
57:
48:
download and compact disc, and was previously available as
830:
748:
635:"Postcode Address File – review of the management of PAF"
461:"Developers dismayed as No.10 blocks free postcode file"
276:. Alternatively the DPS can be found using Royal Mail's
298:
Royal Mail provide licensing advice on their website.
387:
Following a government consultation, on 1 April 2010
44:. It is available in a variety of formats including
546:
544:
493:. Government of the United Kingdom. Archived from
970:
375:
541:
734:
989:Geographical databases in the United Kingdom
16:Database of addresses in the United Kingdom
741:
727:
268:Some versions of the PAF also contain the
583:. April 2007. p. 80. Archived from
301:
661:"Royal Mail's Future management of PAF"
552:"How to address your UK mail correctly"
979:Postal addresses in the United Kingdom
971:
458:
436:. Royal Mail Group Ltd. Archived from
750:Postal services in the United Kingdom
722:
632:
512:
405:National Land and Property Gazetteer
938:Intelligent Letter Sorting Machines
459:Arthur, Charles (22 January 2010).
13:
331:with the official postal address.
278:'Postcode Information File (PIF)'.
14:
1000:
912:Postage stamps and postal history
707:
170:Dependent Thoroughfare Descriptor
76:
984:Postcodes in the United Kingdom
685:
653:
38:postcodes in the United Kingdom
626:
614:
602:
566:
488:"Ofcom | Postal Services"
480:
452:
422:
270:'Delivery Point Suffix (DPS)'
1:
415:
376:Costs and public availability
321:
960:and regulatory arrangements.
950:British Overseas Territories
666:. April 2007. Archived from
282:
7:
398:
160:Dependent Thoroughfare Name
10:
1005:
933:Integrated mail processing
821:British Forces Post Office
774:List of postcode districts
347:The county record – holds
20:
946:
920:
904:
812:
756:
366:
204:Double Dependent Locality
200:
156:
123:
100:
697:30 December 2009 at the
67:
54:Postal Services Act 2000
21:Not to be confused with
274:CBC (Customer Bar Code)
191:Thoroughfare Descriptor
794:London postal district
769:List of postcode areas
410:One Scotland Gazetteer
799:Postcode Address File
554:. alliescomputing.com
302:Public sector licence
30:Postcode Address File
500:on 29 September 2007
958:different operators
714:PAF from Royal Mail
641:on 20 November 2008
954:Crown Dependencies
789:List of post towns
216:Dependent Locality
50:digital audio tape
966:
965:
961:
266:
265:
180:Thoroughfare Name
127:Sub Building Name
104:Organisation Name
23:ZIP (file format)
996:
948:
757:Postal geography
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673:on 24 March 2009
672:
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637:. Archived from
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699:Wayback Machine
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590:on 2 March 2016
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440:on 9 March 2016
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389:Ordnance Survey
378:
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329:cross-reference
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147:Building Number
114:Department Name
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921:Infrastructure
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708:External links
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434:Powered By Paf
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77:File structure
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813:Organisations
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357:postal county
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928:Mail centres
798:
687:
675:. Retrieved
668:the original
655:
643:. Retrieved
639:the original
628:
616:
604:
592:. Retrieved
585:the original
580:
568:
556:. Retrieved
531:. Retrieved
514:
502:. Retrieved
495:the original
482:
470:. Retrieved
466:The Guardian
464:
454:
442:. Retrieved
438:the original
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359:information.
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157:Thoroughfare
101:Organisation
80:
71:
33:
29:
27:
18:
866:Post Office
861:Parcelforce
594:23 February
430:"PAF Stats"
393:OS OpenData
349:traditional
96:Max length
93:Description
973:Categories
871:Royal Mail
633:PostComm.
621:PAF Digest
581:Royal Mail
558:12 October
527:Royal Mail
416:References
322:Alias data
90:Field name
905:Philately
784:Post town
764:Postcodes
677:5 October
645:5 October
533:30 August
283:Licensing
228:Post town
62:Open Data
42:postcodes
826:Collect+
804:Mailsort
695:Archived
399:See also
272:used in
243:Postcode
239:Postcode
201:Locality
124:Premises
881:UK Mail
851:Geopost
504:10 June
472:10 June
444:9 March
87:Element
891:Whistl
856:InPost
529:. 2013
367:Errors
257:PO Box
254:PO Box
183:Street
956:have
896:Yodel
846:FedEx
671:(PDF)
664:(PDF)
623:, p12
588:(PDF)
577:(PDF)
523:(PDF)
498:(PDF)
491:(PDF)
68:Usage
58:Ofcom
952:and
841:Evri
679:2009
647:2009
596:2016
560:2018
535:2022
506:2013
474:2013
446:2016
355:and
28:The
886:UPS
876:TNT
831:DHL
234:30
222:35
210:35
196:20
186:60
175:20
165:60
142:50
132:30
119:60
109:60
46:FTP
34:PAF
975::
836:DX
579:.
543:^
525:.
463:.
432:.
395:.
351:,
262:6
249:7
152:4
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735:t
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681:.
649:.
598:.
562:.
537:.
508:.
476:.
448:.
32:(
25:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.